


Team Mom

by Moonykins



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Sickfic, Steve is team mom, Tony is too stubborn for his own good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 21:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16354529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonykins/pseuds/Moonykins
Summary: His entire team is sick and it's up to team mom Steve to take care of them.  Everyone is playing along except for one genius billionaire who insists he's perfectly fine.





	Team Mom

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this years ago and it started getting notes on my tumblr so I figured I'd post it here.

Never in his life had Steve Rogers felt more lucky to be himself than in the current moment. Hacking coughs surrounded him, drifting from each bedroom on the Avenger’s floor of Stark Tower, accompanied by sickly moans and groans. A nasty bout of influenza had been going around New York City and it seemed as if no one was immune to it—not even the majority of the Avengers. Steve, of course, was made of stronger stuff and didn’t easily catch diseases thanks to the Super Soldier Serum. Instead, he was forced to watch as his teammates fell ill one after another; first Clint, then Natasha, and now Bruce. Steve had doubts about Thor catching it, since he wasn’t sure Asgardians could get sick to begin with. Thor seemed perfectly healthy, albeit a bit miserable that his teammates were suffering at the hands of something he couldn’t easily stop with the help of Mjolnir.

Steve had just finished bringing a round of medicine to each of his sick teammates before dropping down onto the couch beside Thor, who was busy watching another episode of Friends, though his eyes didn’t exactly look like they were focusing on the screen. Steve had been about to ask what was bothering him when Thor spoke up of his own accord. “This illness troubles me, Steven.”

The super soldier shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just the flu. I know it might seem bad, but it just needs to run its course. Everyone will feel better soon.” Steve had learned a lot from Bruce about how medicine had advanced over the many years he had spent in the ice. Bruce had told him that the flu was now a common illness that struck around the fall and winter seasons—it all seemed perfectly timed to Steve. 

Thor, however, was harder to convince. “I still do not like it. Lady Jane has taken ill as well.”

Well, that explained it. Thor was just worried for Jane, which made perfect sense seeing as how he was in love with the gal. Reaching over, Steve clapped a hand to Thor’s mighty shoulder, causing the Norse god to look down at him. “Go on and take care of her then. I’m sure she’d cheer up if she saw you.”

Thor’s electric blue eyes positively lit up as a huge smile appeared on his handsome face. “You are sure? But what of the others? They are all ill and I feel that I shouldn’t leave my comrades in such a great time of need.”

Being the true American hero that he was, Steve felt it was only right for him to take over responsibility of his bedridden teammates and allow Thor to take leave to go and watch over Jane. Of course, he had to convince the god of this several times before Thor finally took to the skies and left. Steve stood staring out the window, watching Thor become smaller and smaller as he shot further into the distance, his mind on other things. Taking care of his team was no big deal—Clint was so sick that he was practically comatose, Natasha had enough sense to stay in bed when she was ill, and Bruce was a doctor. That left Steve with just one other Avenger.

Tony was in the basement, hauled up in his workshop, tinkering away on some project that was beyond Steve’s comprehension. The billionaire had been coughing and sneezing for days, but naturally he refused to admit that he was sick. He pressed on, pushing through the feverish haze that was surrounding him and insisting that he didn’t need Steve to sit down there with him to watch over him.

“Really, I’m alright.” Tony said, sniffling and wiping a spot of grease from his forehead. He only succeeded in spreading it, however. “Not sick at all. In fact, I feel perfectly fine. I might have been sick at first, but I’m over it now. Yep, definitely over it.”

Steve seriously doubted that, and the loud sneeze that Tony released wasn’t helping his defense at all. Dum-E sped across the room, holding out a tissue for his ill master to take. Tony snatched it up and blew his nose nosily in it before handing it back to Dum-E, who seemed to stare hesitantly at the contaminated piece of cloth. Eventually, the AI took the dirty tissue and dropped it into the garbage, whirring sadly as it looked back at Tony.

“You should rest.” Steve said, leaning forward on the couch, blue eyes locked on Tony. He was looking pretty pale, and Steve was sure that he hadn’t surfaced to eat since yesterday. “You don’t look too great.”

“I always look great.” Tony replied, trying to offer a cocky smile, but failing when another sneeze overtook him. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand, his brown eyes watering up (probably from his fever, if he even had one. Steve couldn’t get close enough to check). “Aaand I just sneezed all over this. U, bring the disinfectant spray. Oh, come on. It’s over the—no. The one to the left. Honestly, you’d think I hadn’t programmed visual for you guys. Thank you.”

Steve was usually a pretty patient guy, but after seeing Tony sneeze all over his desk he had decided he’d had enough. He got to his feet, took Tony by the arm, and physically dragged him away from his current project.

“H-Hey! Steve! I’m working. You can’t just—“

“Jarvis, shut the music. Lock the workshop down until I inform you to unlock it.”

“Yes, Captain Rogers. Right away.”

Steve easily got Tony to the other side of the door, hearing the electronic sounds of the locking mechanism behind them as he faced the stairs. Without hesitation, he began ascending the stairs, still holding firmly onto Tony’s arm, forcing him to keep up with the super soldier’s long strides.

“Steve. Seriously. I’m okay. I can get a bit of work done. Why don’t you go check on everyone else? I think I can hear Clint whining.”

“You’re just as sick as everyone else,” Steve countered, stopping halfway up the stairs to turn and look down at Tony. It was a good thing he had been holding onto Tony’s arm, since it was at that moment that Tony’s body finally decided it had had enough. He was in the middle of yet another string of complaints when he stopped short, swaying heavily on his feet before pitching backward, eyes rolling into his head. “Tony!”

Thanks to his quick reflexes, Steve was able to pull Tony toward him before he had the chance to tumble backwards back down the stairs. “Do you see why you need to rest now?” Steve asked, holding Tony close and shifting him in his arms. He scooped him up and this time he didn’t hear a single complaint from the billionaire. In fact, Tony seemed to mumble appreciatively. Steve pressed his palm to Tony’s sweaty and greasy forehead, checking for a fever. “You’re running a terribly high temperature.”

“I’m hot.” Tony replied with a laugh.

Naturally, this joke was lost on Steve, who simply sighed and began climbing the stairs once more. He decided that Tony was in no condition to take care of himself properly, and so it was up to Captain America to make sure that his delusional boyfriend was cleaned up and tucked into bed. First came the cleaning, which Tony didn’t seem all too keen about until Steve managed to bargain with him and settle on the two of them taking a bath together. Steve stepped into the large, warm bath tub first, holding out a hand for Tony, who was still slightly shaky on his feet. Tony guided himself down into Steve’s arms, releasing a pleasured sigh as the warm water enveloped his body. The steam was helping to clear up his nose some, and the bubbles always provided entertainment. He quickly gathered together a beard for Steve, though it didn’t stay on for too long.

It didn’t take long before Tony had worn himself out again. He leaned back against Steve’s broad chest, allowing the super soldier to run a soapy washcloth over his arms, chest, and face, removing the grease and oil there. Tony was much too tired to fight it—usually he would complain about Steve being too much of a mother hen to him, but right now it actually felt pretty nice. Steve even went so far as to wash Tony’s hair for him, raking his fingernails over the billionaire’s scalp just the way he liked it. Tony practically purred in contentment.

Once they were out of the tub, Steve instructed Jarvis to drain the water while he toweled Tony off. Naturally, said billionaire refused to keep the towel on longer than strictly necessary, and it was quickly discarded in favor of a pair of silk boxers and pajama bottoms. Tony didn’t usually wear pajama tops to bed, but he found that once he stepped out of the warm water of the tub he was frozen to the point where his teeth began to chatter. He quickly pulled on a shirt and made a mad dash to his bed, diving into it and burrowing under the covers.

“You know, you don’t need to take care of me like this…” Tony murmured as Steve adjusted the covers around him and brushed his damp hair from his forehead. Chocolate brown eyes stared up through a sickly fog at Steve, and instantly the super soldier knew he wasn’t going anywhere for the rest of the day.

“I know,” Steve replied, lifting the covers and sliding in beside the billionaire. “I like to.”

Tony smiled at that, for once at a loss of words. Right now, he preferred to simply worm his way into Steve’s arms, rest his head against Steve’s chest (so that his ear was positioned perfectly over his heart), and close his eyes. Steve continued running his fingers through Tony’s hair until he heard the sounds of his lover’s breathing evening out.

“You’re such a handful.”

Tony snorted in his sleep.


End file.
